Rabat - Human rights activists and opponents of normalization with Israel in Morocco have organized a sit-in in front of the Palestinian Embassy in solidarity with the ongoing hunger strike of imprisoned Palestinians, with some entering a hunger strike of their own.

Ezzoubeir Jabrane is a master's student at Ain chok Faculty of Letters and Humanities.

May 6, 2017

Rabat – Human rights activists and opponents of normalization with Israel in Morocco have organized a sit-in in front of the Palestinian Embassy in solidarity with the ongoing hunger strike of imprisoned Palestinians, with some entering a hunger strike of their own.

Amid the hunger strike currently undertaken by over 1,500 Palestinian prisoners to protest Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners, individuals and organizations worldwide have expressed support for the Palestinian prisoners and have condemned the ongoing Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

After burning the Israeli flag in Rabat on May Day, the Embassy of Palestine in Rabat has become the meeting point of many human rights activists, politicians, and citizens opposing normalization with the Zionist state.

The sit-in participants stated their full, unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners. They also called for the criminalization of all sorts of normalization with Israel.

Numerous slogans were repeated in the sit-in, condemning the normalization with Israel and communicating their support for the Palestinian cause. They were heard saying, “The Palestinians are resisting and the regimes are haggling,”[haggle means to barter. I’m not sure if this is what you mean] and “Down falls the Balfour Declaration.”

Zuhair Al-Shann, the Palestinian ambassador in Rabat who also took part in the sit-in, thanked the Moroccans for their constant support for the Palestinian issue. He also thanked the members of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights and various party figures for their participation.

The members of the Moroccan Coalition for Palestine and Anti-normalization announced they would begin a 24-hour hunger strike in support for the Palestinian prisoners and in denunciation of the Israeli colonial oppression.

The hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners started on April 16, announced by the currently-imprisoned Marwan Barghouti.

In a New York Times op-ed written from his prison cell, Barghouti said: “Hunger striking is the most peaceful form of resistance available. It inflicts pain solely on those who participate and on their loved ones, in the hopes that their empty stomachs and their sacrifice will help the message resonate beyond the confines of their dark cells.”